EARTHQUAKE ‘SWARM’ LEFT MOST UNMOVED, SEISMOLOGIST SAYS

A seismologist says a cluster of earthquakes was detected in southern New Brunswick over a two-week period, but it’s unlikely residents felt even a tremble. Maurice Lamontagne of Earthquakes Canada says 10 quakes occurred about 25 km outside Sussex between Sept. 19 and Oct. 5. Lamontagne says the earthquakes were of such low magnitude — about 2.3 on the Richter scale — that people in the sparsely populated area may have heard a rumble, but probably felt nothing beneath their feet. He says the quakes were relatively shallow and focused less than five kms beneath the earth’s crust. Lamontagne says the pattern of seismic activity, known as an earthquake swarm, has settled and will most likely die out — in fewer than one per cent of cases does it lead to a larger earthquake.